April 25, 2018

NO ONE HATES JUST MEXICANS:

Colbeck's presentation was loaded with false conspiracy theories that have been pushed by the far right to undermine Muslim Americans. A recent BuzzFeed News analysis found that state and local Republican politicians and officials have publicly attacked Islam in 49 states since 2015, typically with impunity.

"There's a lot of pressure being applied in our society right now. You're seeing Muslim legislators in the state legislature. And you're seeing also a push at the local level at city councils," Colbeck can be heard saying as a slide titled "Civilization Jihad Techniques" is up on a screen.

Well-funded anti-Muslim groups like the Center for Security Policy and ACT for America -- once fringe elements of the conservative movement that have recently risen to prominence in the Trump era -- have alleged for years that Muslim Americans are subverting US laws through the practice of Sharia and that it would replace or supercede the laws of the land.

Sharia -- often used as a fear-inducing term associated with anti-Western beliefs -- is simply a religious code of conduct, no different than those contained in other Abrahamic religions.

Oftentimes anti-Muslim conspiracy theories also involve the belief that the Muslim Brotherhood -- the oldest political Sunni Islamist group that began in Egypt and has since spread to many Arab nations -- is actually infiltrating every aspect of Muslim American society with nefarious intentions. There were unfounded allegations that Hillary Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin, was a member, for example.